The story of a jazz guitar genius in the late '30s.
"We take the character through a series of hilarious and harrowing events as he clashes with lovers, musicians and gangsters in a comic and touching farce of his own crazy making", director Woody Allen said

The director: Woody Allen (Flatbush, New York, 1935). After his beginnings as a gag actor, his Broadway successes (Don't drink the water and Play it again, Sam). First film in 1969: Take the money and run. Up till now, he received 18 Oscar nominations, and won 3: best director and screenplay fo Annie Hall (1977) and original screenplay for Hannie and Her Sisters.

Love, jealousy, sex and desire in the contest of an ordinarily happy marriage. From the novel Traumnovelle by Arthur Schintzler

The hard birth of a comic opera in 1880, London.
"It is a film about all of us who suffer and strain to make other people laugh", director Mike Leigh said.

The director: Mike Leigh, (Salford, Great Britain, 1943). In 1965 he began directing his theatre pieces. He debuted as film director in 1971 with Bleak Moments (Golden Hugo in Chicago), Pardo d'Oro in Locarno). Best film award at Taormina festival in 1991 (Life is Sweet); best director at Cannes in 1993 (Naked). Palm d'Or in Cannes and 5 Oscar nominations for Secrets and Lies.

Sex, feelings. Love.
"What is it that leads a man and a woman to experience reciprocal attraction, and say I love you", and why do they split up afterwards? What we think is a love story, is not so much love as the story itself, the memory we harbour. How it all began, what happened, what we are left with and what we have forgotten", director Frédéric Fonteyne said.

An Australian girl in India is in search of spiritual answers. A top American cult buster is hired by her family, and will struggle against temptation.
"One of the things we are investigating is the way that sex takes you places you would not normally go without it, places you might otherwise retreat from", director Jane Campion said.

The director: Jane Campion (Wellington, New Zealand, 1954). Graduated in Anthropology and in painting. Her early Peel won the Palm d'Or in Cannes as best short film (1986).An Angel at My Table (1990) won the Leone d'Argento in Venice.1993's The Piano awarded her with the Palm d'Or in Cannes (ex aequo with Farewell My Concubine by Chen Kaige); the film won an Oscar for best original screenplay.

An obsessive and sadistic love affair between a high-school student and a sculptor.
"This story is about life and love. But love isn't always so terrific. It is usually beautified in films. May I express a different point of view?", director Jang Sun Woo said.

The director: Jang Sun Woo Seoul,1952). One of the most acclaimed directors in Korea. With Hwa-om-kyung, 1993, he won the Alfred Bauer award at Berlin. Kyotip (1996) was voted the best film at Asia pacific Festival and at the Bangkok Festival.

Five young people from different ethnic and social backgrounds meet in Vienna and spend some time together, sharing dreams and experiences lived during the war in former Yugoslavia.
"The war that has come back, never ends, The war that has overturned our vision of the world", director Barbara Albert said.

The director: Barbara Albert (Vienna, 1970). Her short film Die Frucht deines Liebes won many prizes. Somewhere Else and Sonnenflecken were screened at various European Festivals.

A week in the life of a middle-aged man: a happy and lucky week, if it were not for some troubles in his job as prosecutor, which compel him to think about his moral principles.
"It isn't easy or fashionable to talk about human weaknesses and sins. I hope that this story forces some filmgoers into questioning the human condition. Discuss with the screen, argue with it: this is the cinema I believe in", director Jerzy Stuhr said.

The director: Jerzy Stuhr (Cracow, 1947). At the end of the '70s he alternated between university and theatre, as actor and director; he was among the founders of Teatr Stu. He emerged as a film director in 1994 with Spis cudzoloznic, wining the special jury prize for the best screenplay at the Polish festival.

An important industrialist gets ot of prison with a completely different view of the world: it is difficult to make others understand.

The director: Benoit Jacquot (Paris, 1947). He began working as assistant director for the likes of Bernard Borderie and Marguerite Duras; in this period he made his first amateur films, then he worked fot French tv. First full-length film is L'assassin musicien (1975); then Les ailes de la colombe adapted from a novel of Henry James.

A mosaic with the thousands of the stories of the inhabitants of a city.
"It is a mosaic-type narrative, in which separate lives both run separate and meet. The main theme is Evil and its power of contamination" director Alberto Seixas Santos said.

The director: Alberto Seixas Santos (Lisbon 1936). He studied filmmaking in Paris and London. He has been writing for years as a critic for many newspapaers; in 1970 he co-founded the Centro Portugues de Cinema, followed by the Lisbon Film School, the Grupo Zero Cooperative.In the '70s he began shooting his first full-length movies.

Some people reach a Kurdistan Iranian village, Siah Dareh. are they looking for a treasure?

The director; Abbas Kiarostami (Teheran, Iran, 1940). He quit the painter carrier for cinema: in 1969 he was asked to establish film department Kanun. His first important recognition as a film director came with Khaneh-ye doost kojast? (Pardo di bronzo in Locarno, 1987). In 1992 Zendegi edameh darad won the Rossellini prize at Cannes. Ta'm e guilass won the Palm d'Or in Cannes in 1997 (ex-aequo).

The tight bond between an orphan and the man who raised and mentored him; and then the discovery of the real world out of the orphanage. From John Irving's novel.
"I was attracted to the unique world of John Irving, and the story of Homer, a young man who grows up in isolation and goes out into the world to have his ideas and principles clash with reality", director Lasse Hallstrom said.

The director: Lasse Hallstrom (Stockholm, 1946). He directed music videos, and a movie about Abba. My Life as a Dog (1985) was nominated for two Oscars for best director and non-original screenplay; awarded by the New York Film Critics as the best foreign film.

A man and a woman, fired by the same industry, spend together much time during their unemployment period: a friendship which turns into something else.
"An attempt to talk about unemployment unlike that used by newspapers. To keep talking about love, on and on. The defiant pleasure of making love when everyone else is at work", direcotr Marionn Vernoux said.

The director: Marion Vernoux (Montreuil-sous-Bois, France, 1966). She wrote several screenplays; her first film as director is Personne m'aime (1994).

Jumping on a bus, riunning away from an ordinary and lovely family: the dream of a teenager.
"I made his film because I fell in love, with the characters, the actors, the crazy things they say" director Gianni Zanasi said.

The director: Gianni Zanasi (Vignola, Modena, 1965). A student of Nanni Moretti's. His first full-length film is Le belle prove (1992) winning the Gabbiano d'Argento in Bellaria. In 1996 Nella mischia won Sacher d'Oro, Cinema e Società award and the Efesto d'oro for best first work.

Two stepsisters, very different from each other, have and argument when one steals money putting the blame on her sister. An accident happens, and one girl will be linving in remorse.
"In present China, comedy seems very popular among the ordinary people. I hope a saddening story like this one will provoke Chinese people's thinking about their real life and their recall of what happened in the past" director Zhang Yuan said.

The director: Zhang Yuan (Nanking, China, 1963). In 1990 he produced and direted Mama, awareded at Nantes festival where it was screened despite Chinese prohibition. His Beijing Zazhong, the first Chinese independet film since 1949, was awarded prizes at Locarno and Singapore. He also directed awarded videos for the Chinese rock star Cui Jian. in 1994 he directed and produced Guang Chang, a documentary on everday life in Tian-an-Men square 5 years after its dramatic events.

A woman at the end of her marriage and the peak of her beauty, which time has begun to wither. A love story with a student, who leaves witha friend. She waits for him.
"We don't know why people jump out of windows. That's what the film is about" director Philippe Garrel said.

The director: Philippe Garrel (Paris, 1947). He left high school at 13 and the following year made his first film in 16 mm., Une plume pour Carole, which he destroyed in 1970. In ten days he shot in first full-length movie, Marie pour mémoire (1967), showing his preference for experimental cinema. He won Leone d'Argento in Venice in 1991 with J'entends plus la guitare (ex aequo with Raise the Red Lantern by Zhang Yimou' and Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King).

The "redemption" of a 20 years old who was wasting his life: the path to discover the dept of his feeliongs and compassions towards others. "A set of stories told in first prson, each of which is a self-contained world" director Alison Maclean said.

The director: Alison Maclean (Ottawa, 1958). Specialized in sculpture. She made many short films in New Zealand: Kitchen Sink received 8 international awards. Her full-length Crush (1992)was shown at Cannes, Toronto and Sundance festivals.

Tyler thinks self-destruction is the answer, and loves fight clubs. Is it only when you have lost everything that you are free to do anything?

"Fight clubs are an outlet for re-masculinity. The film is about how today's society takes its toll on young men", director David Fincher said.

The director: David Fincher (California, 1963). He worked on photographic effects of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. His first film is Alien 3; the he directed Seven, a noir starring Brad Pitt, who is also the protagonist in Fight Club. He directed another noir, The Game.

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